Norton Speeds Post-Katrina Help to Gulf Coast - 3/2/2007

Norton Speeds Post-Katrina Help to Gulf Coast
March 2, 2007

Washington, DC -- On the recommendation of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s (D-DC) Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has sent a major bill to the floor that will help speed the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The full Committee passed H.R. 1144, the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Federal Match Relief Act of 2007, to help cut red tape and speed funding to Louisiana and Mississippi by waiving the 25 percent state match for federal funding required by the Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and by canceling the required repayment of Community Disaster Loans to states and localities. Loans given to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast Region up to the point of enactment of this bill will be forgiven, in the same fashion as loans made to New York after 9/11, Florida after Hurricane Andrew, and Hawaii after Hurricane Iniki. The committee also added Texas and Florida to the bill. The provisions will be retroactive and include 2005 and 2006.

The bill was referred to Norton’s subcommittee, which has oversight over the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Stafford Act, but working with the Democratic leadership, Norton waived subcommittee consideration and presented the bill in the committee yesterday.

Norton said that by making these concessions the federal government is providing a crucial missing link that has bogged down state and local efforts to make their communities more livable and draw back home residents who fled the hurricanes. Norton visited New Orleans and Mississippi shortly after the two hurricanes hit in 2005 and plans to hold a field hearing of her subcommittee in the Gulf Coast Region in the near future.